Falklands Expedition
Falklands Expedition | |||||||
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A map of historic Puerto Soledad. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States |
Falklands Islands Command | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Silas Duncan Enrique Metealf |
Luis Vernet Esteban Mestivier Matthew Brisbane (POW) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1 sloop | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None | 7 captured | ||||||
38 colonists evacuated |
The Falklands Expedition (Spanish: Ataque del USS Lexington a Puerto Soledad) occurred in late 1831 when the
When they boarded they were arrested. Then, he captured the small schooner Águila, landed his forces and detained those who were considered captors of the American ships, looted the facilities and warehouses, occupied the main buildings, stole the hides, tools and personal belongings of the inhabitants (including suitcases and clothes), disabled the fortifications and artillery defenses, nailed the cannons, destroyed the weapons and burned the gunpowder. He also lowered the Argentine flag[1]
Seized six of the senior officers in the settlement on charges of piracy. The damage done to the settlement is disputed. Duncan reports spiking the guns of the settlement and a powder store. Vernet was to later claim his settlement was ransacked. The ship sought to recover the kidnapped schooners. The act was supported by the American ambassador in Buenos Aires, who unilaterally declared that the Malvinas were an "area free of any administrative power" (res nullius). On the islands, Duncan declared them this way on January 21, 1832, as a last measure before abandoning Puerto Soledad.
The settlers complained of the conditions they were living in and asserted that Vernet had misled them. Duncan offered passage to the mainland and the majority of settlers chose to leave, leaving behind a small party. In late 1832, Argentine warships challenged American sealers in the area again, prompting the US consul to consider a second punitive expedition with orders to sink the Argentine ship
Consequences
According to the UK version, US President
Vernet returned to Puerto Soledad, without resources to rebuild the colony and to provide it with the necessary defenses. However he continued planning the reconstruction. He regularly requested that the Buenos Aires government assign him human resources and weapons, but did not receive any formal response. On September 10, 1832, the Ministry of War and Navy appointed by decree the Sergeant Major of Artillery José Francisco Mestivier as interim Civil and Military Commander of the Falklands and its adjacent areas. On November 19, Vernet and his family left the islands forever on the seal schooner Harriet that had been captured from the Americans. Juan Manuel de Rosas had also ordered the sending of a military force, under the command of José María Pinedo with the schooner Sarandí.
See also
- Brazil Squadron
- Capture of Port Egmont
- Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833)
References
- ^ Maisch, Christian J. (2000). «The Falkland/Malvinas Islands Clash of 1831-32: U.S. and British Diplomacy in the South Atlantic». Diplomatic History
- ^ Silas Duncan and the Falklands' Incident